vim up to 9.2.0434 Command Line os command injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in vim up to 9.2.0434. The impacted element is an unknown function of the component Command Line Handler. Performing a manipulation results in os command injection. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2026-44656. The attack can be initiated remotely. There is not any exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in vim up to 9.2.0434. It has been classified as critical. This affects an unknown functionality of the component Command Line Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a os command injection vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-78. The product constructs all or part of an OS command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended OS command when it is sent to a downstream component. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Vim is an open source, command line text editor. Prior to version 9.2.0435, an OS command injection vulnerability exists in Vim's :find command-line completion. When the path option contains backtick-enclosed shell commands, those commands are executed during file name completion. Because the path option lacks the P_SECURE flag, it can be set from a modeline, allowing an attacker who controls the contents of a file to execute arbitrary shell commands when the user opens that file in Vim and triggers :find completion. This issue has been patched in version 9.2.0435.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-44656 since 05/07/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1202 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 313602 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-44656), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 9.2.0435 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com. Applying the patch 190cb3c2b9c769a3972bcfd991a7b5b6cb771ef0 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (313602) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-1335). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source vim

Productinfo

Type

• Word Processing Software

Name

• vim

Version

• 9.2.0434

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/vim/vim/

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